Legal clients in Vermont may pursue malpractice claims for a lost opportunity to settle, the state’s high court said in a case of first impression.
To recover for such a claim, a plaintiff must show that a settlement would have occurred if not for the law firm’s negligence, and specifiy the probable terms of the settlement, the court said in an opinion by Justice Harold E. Eaton Jr.
Applying that standard, the Vermont Supreme Court found a homeowners’ association failed to show what the probable settlement terms would have been in a breach of contract suit over its maintenance of ...